


Demonic Redemption

by HoooohThePurpleJester



Category: Terraria
Genre: Chaptered, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow To Update, updated over time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28010448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoooohThePurpleJester/pseuds/HoooohThePurpleJester
Summary: A demon is, to his own dismay, assigned the role of The Champion by Wall Of Flesh, having to endure the many trials of the world of Terraria in order to save it from evil forces.
Relationships: No relationships; yet.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 0-1 - An introduction.

In the depths of the world of Terraria, under the noses of all living beings, rests a land consisting of nothing more than ash, hellstone and hot, burning lava. A land inhabited with demons and beings formed from the primordial elements of the underworld, and a guardian which rarely makes itself seen. One of these demons, blissfully unaware of his future, is finding entertainment in hunting down hellbats, throwing a trident at them and watching them go down in a matter of seconds. This is just a daily routine for Ardor, after all, what else is there to do in the underworld? Torture souls, hunt down slimes and bats, maybe a bone serpent if you’re feeling brave enough. It’s a boring life for demons, but it’s better than being one of the poor mortals who are sentenced to being lost souls, roaming around the underworld, just waiting to get impaled by a demon. These thoughts had long left this specific devil, though; to him, this was all just a fact of life, how things were, and that nothing was going to change. He would soon be proven wrong, though, as he feels the walls of the underworld resonating, and a voice relaying a message to him.   


‘‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE UNDERWORLD IS ON ITS WAY, STAY PUT IN YOUR CURRENT POSITION. SHOULD YOU FAIL TO MEET THESE SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS, A PUNISHMENT IS LIKELY TO BE CARRIED OUT.’’   
  
Ardor is, of course, quite alarmed by this sudden message, especially since it was about the guardian of hell itself; the Wall Of Flesh. It almost never called upon individual demons, let alone any demons at all, only for extremely important matters. He doesn’t get much time to think about this, though, as he feels a large gaze down his neck, and the disgusting sound of flesh palpitating and squirming. Yeah, that was Wall Of Flesh, alright. He turns around, seeing before him a biomass that covered his entire field of view, looking horrifying as ever.   
  
‘‘Uh, hey there, bossman, whaddaya want me for? Did I break anythin’ important again?’’   
  
The guardian squints at him after he says this, quickly shoving it aside and continuing with the matter at hand.   
  
‘‘I called upon you for a far less trivial matter. Ardor, from what I know, you are one of the more sinful demons in the underworld, one in desperate need of redemption.’’   
  
The demon, however, scoffs at this, rolling his eyes and smirking at the fleshy mass before him, despite his current nervousness.

‘‘Awh, come on big guy, what did I do? What, is it so bad to have several accounts of manslaughter, unethical hunting, and… Well, actually, it sounds way worse now that I say it out loud, heh.’’   


It quickly retorts, in a very contrasting serious tone;   
  
‘‘You seem to be completely aware of why you’re here, then. I’m giving you a chance for redemption, one which requires extremely high effort, and one only very few are capable of accomplishing.’’   
  
Ardor, with a smug smirk, points his trident at a vein of hellstone on the lava ocean.

‘‘What, ya want me to hoard up some hellstone for ya? Lotta folk don’t wanna do that, so I can see how-’’   
  
He is quickly cut off.   
  
‘‘SILENCE! The duty I’m assigning you is not that of a mere hellstone miner, it’s much more grand and intense. This world is in desperate need of a Champion, one to vanquish the forces that may threaten it, and I have chosen you to be the next one to step up to this task.’’   
  
Ardor’s smug expression quickly deforms into one of nerve and slight horror, as he tries to change the guardian’s mind. After all, how could he be the next Champion of Terraria?!   
  
‘‘WHAT?! Ya gotta be kiddin’ me, boss! I’m just your regular run of the mill demon, I ain’t special! Why would you choose me, of all people? There’s a ton of other demons with more potential and will to be a hero or whatever; I’m the worst one ya coulda chosen!’’   
  
‘‘You seem to fail to realize something. You are, by far, one of the demons with the most potential in the entirety of hell. With enough willpower, and enough help, you can do more than you could possibly imagine, Ardor.’’   
  
Ardor needs a moment to process this. On one hand, he could get a lot out of this, finally escape from hell, live life on the surface again, on the other, he could go undergo a  _ lot _ of pain, considering the threats that are out there, then again… There isn’t much of a lack of confidence here.    
  
‘‘Well, even if I did buy into that… Help, really? Who could possibly help me with this? What, is some random person gonna show up n’ tell me all that I need to go? Ya got me kinda confused, meat man.’’   
  
The Wall Of Flesh chuckles to itself, as the surroundings of it and Ardor go dark within an instant, and the vision of both starts to go hazy. The already confused devil feels even more lost now, trying to make sense out of what’s happening right now, anything.   
  
‘‘That is where I come in. We will both be transferred into human vessels, vessels that neither of us can escape, and where we can’t use our demonic powers. I will be your Guide, and you will be the Champion. You get no say in this, Ardor.’’   
  
‘‘WHAT THE-?! NO, YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT! YOU-’’   
  
However, as soon as Ardor opens his eyes, he soon sees his skin is no longer red, he is clothed, with a beige-ish jacket with a belt attached to it, light blue undershirt and sandy yellow pants with brown shoes. In addition, his horns are gone, and he now has reddish brown hair. Not to mention, the environment was much different to that of the underworld, with the ground being green and soft rather than an ashen gray and sandy, and the skies being blue rather than the usual shades of orange and green, with a much cooler temperature than what he's used to. Before him, is no longer a fleshy wall, but rather someone with similar clothes and ginger hair.    
  
‘‘... Bossman, is that you?’’  
  
The man(?) before him chuckles, putting a hand on Ardor’s shoulder.    
  
‘‘Come on Ardor, don’t call me anything like that anymore, just call me Guide. Now, we-’’ 

But, he’s not given much time to think, as he's quite viciously picked up by the collar of his shirt, with a trident pointed at his head. The copper axes he was carrying drop to the ground softly as this happens. 

‘‘Give me just ONE reason I shouldn't kill you right now, you delusional piece of shit!’’

But, Guide seems rather unphased by this course of action, smiling softly. 

‘‘You would kinda be sacrificing an extra pair of hands. Besides, I'd come back. Death isn’t exactly going to take either of us back to hell. We’ll just reappear, and keep on going about our business as normal.’’

Ardor, upon hearing that last part, drops the person he was just now threatening, with a blank expression on his face. 

‘‘So, what you’re saying, is… Until I do what you want me to do… We're both locked here, unable to permanently die, until I do what you want me to do?’’

The Guide chuckles, picking the axes back up as he gets up on his feet again. 

‘‘Bingo. So, you might as well just go along with it, heh. We need to get some resources to build housing and gear up, so, let’s get to work on that.’’

Ardor just sighs, looking a bit devastated, but mostly mad. 

‘‘Fuck you. That’s all I can say.’’

The Guide shrugs, handing an axe to the ex-demon, with him holding one of his own.   
  
‘‘Come on, don't be so aggressive. You’ll need to save that aggressiveness for bigger things. Now, let's get to chopping some wood, we’ll need plenty for this place.’’  
  
Ardor groans, glaring at The Guide, then setting his eye on a tree and starting to chop away at it, with his companion following suit, while thinking;  
_  
_ _ ‘This one is gonna be a bit hard to work with… That's alright, though. I know he’s not as rough as he makes himself out to be. I just need to work with him correctly.’ _   
  
And with this, begins a long, long journey...


	2. Chapter 1-1: Journey's Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A calmer chapter for y'all; don't worry, we'll be getting into the more intense stuff soon. For now, though, enjoy a bit of character exploration!

It had been quite a while since Ardor and the Guide started gathering resources, with the former finally getting a taste of what mining is like after enough wood had been collected. While the new champion is underground, exploring caves and extracting as much ore as he could, the Guide starts on building a large hut, as a base of operation of sorts. Completely by himself, he puts together wood and nails, while deep in thought. These thoughts were ones about the near future, and about the champion he chose. There are most certainly doubts; Ardor could go rogue at any moment and abuse his newfound position, or just prove to not be enough to take on the challenges he has to face… But, these don’t last long, he keeps telling himself one thing, that he made the right choice, and that no matter what happened, he could handle it. After those thoughts go away, though… He just takes a moment to look at the scenery, the hills, the sun, at the very peak of its rising, the wildlife… He remembers then just why he took the risk of choosing Ardor as the champion, because this world made him feel less like a big, terrifying entity, but rather, just a simple person, living out a simple life. It gave him something to see, something to look forward to seeing develop, and he wanted it to be protected, protected by someone who could take out anything that threatened it. Though, it seems like during these thoughts, he zoned out quite a bit, and time had started rapidly passing without him noticing. This is indicated by the sound of someone warping behind him, and groaning.   
  
‘‘Could you explain to me just what the hell you’re doing?! You’re supposed to be building a place for us to not get killed by monsters at night, and yet, I come back from a long while of mining, and-’’   
  
But, before Ardor could finish talking and berating the Guide, the far calmer-sounding man points over to his hand, which is looking pretty tense, and holding a magic mirror.   
  
‘‘Hey, careful. You’re gonna shatter that thing into a bunch of pieces if you keep tensing up your hands like that. Where did you even get it, anyways? It looks really old, and it’s clearly not just a regular mirror.’’   
  
The ex-demon looks over at his hand, the one holding the mirror, and makes a noticeable effort to calm down, as to not break the rare relic.   
  
‘‘I… Found it in an abandoned hut, underground, inside a chest. Why would you care, though? I thought you’d just be bossin’ me around, tellin’ me to go from place to place and do whatever batshit insane tasks you want me to do.’’   
  
The Guide shrugs, crouching down to take a better look at the mirror without touching Ardor.   
  
‘‘Just got a good deal of curiosity going. You’ll probably find a lot of cool stuff like this. You don’t even have to go out looking for it! That’s what I like about exploration, you could be looking for one thing, but find three other neat things along the way that you never even thought of finding. You’ll probably start liking it after a while.’’   
  
‘‘What, you’re saying I’ll become interested in something as mundane as walking around aimlessly for hours just to find something I’ll forget about the next day? Don’t make me fuckin’ laugh. Only an idiot like you would be interested in that kind of thing.’’   
  
The Guide just stands up, however, continuing to work on the hut, which is already coming along quite nicely. Ardor, though; he seems irritated by the lack of a response, with his arms crossed and his eyes giving Guide a nasty glare.   
  
‘‘Hey, dumbass, I’m talkin’ to you.’’   
  
‘‘No, you’re not, you’re just letting out your pent up frustrations and lack of proper fulfillment of any sort on me. Now go and pick up some logs, some nails and a hammer, alright? I left some prepared for you right there. We’ll get this done way faster if we do it together.’’   
  
Ardor would have retorted smugly by now, but by the look on his face, he seems extremely mad, although not exactly in denial. Cursing under his breath, he starts getting to work on putting this hut together, clearly not doing as well of a job as his mentor. The Guide notices this, though and walks over to him, with a soft expression and tone.    
  
‘‘Hey, do you need help with that? I can teach you the ropes of building if you want to, it’s really not too hard once you get used to it. Specially if you have what I like to call… The power of creation. Which, I don’t quite have myself, but… Hey, other champions have channeled it before, why not you?’’   
  
Ardor smacks away the Guide’s hand, though, growling at him.   
  
‘‘I CAN DO THIS BY MYSELF! I don’t want anyone to help me, I don’t want YOU to get involved in my business, I can do everything MYSELF!”   
  
Guide sighs in response, shrugging and taking a moment to respond. After thinking for a moment, he smirks, and looks at Ardor in the eyes.   
  
‘‘That’s a shame, you know? We’d be done with this so much faster if you learnt that, but… Your pride takes priority over reason, doesn’t it?’’   
  
Ardor drops all of his tools and materials when he hears this, gritting his teeth and giving a furious glare to the Guide.   
  
‘‘You. I know what you’re doing. Stop trying to get in my head. It won’t work. And I HATE when you try to do that.’’   
  
And, immediately, he gets a snarky response from the ginger-haired man he was staring down.   
  
‘‘Well, maybe there’s a reason you hate it. Maybe because I’m right about what I’m saying, who knows?’’   
  
The ex-demon stays completely silent, before switching the topic quickly.   
  
‘‘Fine. Teach me how to do that creation thing. If it doesn’t work, I’m going to stick my trident right into your throat.’’   
  
The Guide ignores that last statement completely, deciding instead to put a few logs of wood in front of Ardor, grabbing his wrist gently, and lifting his arm up.   
  
‘‘Alright, here’s how this works. You need to concentrate, and picture the end result of what you want to build in your head. Try to keep your train of thought on it completely, without anything else on your mind. Then, imagine the materials floating into place, like blocks, and it will happen in the physical realm.’’   
  
‘‘That sounds like bullshit. I’ll try it, but don’t expect it to work, aight?’’   
  
Ardor follows the instructions, picturing a simple hut in his mind, in line with what the work in progress one looked like at the moment. And then, he imagines the logs of wood falling into place… But as soon as a few ones are put in place, he seems to get quite a bit excited, causing one of the logs that had already been lifted up in the air to fall to the ground, snapping in half. He seems extremely irritated by this, already lifting up his trident, but the Guide quickly interjects.   
  
‘‘Hey, you said if it  _ didn’t _ work. You clearly harnessed the power of creation, you just haven’t mastered it yet. It worked, but not as well as it could have. Still worked, though, which means I’m free from any and all impalement~’’   
  
Ardor stutters for a moment, before letting out a sigh, looking down at the ground and dropping his trident.   
  
‘‘Yeah, yeah, you’re fuckin’ right, as much as I hate that. Would have loved to drive the trident into your throat, but I said what I said, and I’m stickin’ to it.’’   
  
The Guide gives Ardor a gentle pat on the back, before getting back into work on the hut, which was already extremely close to completion. The ex-demon, however, just… stays there, seemingly deep in thought. Just what did this guy want from him? Why was he being so kind, and why did it irritate him so much? Why did it invoke so much pure and utter rage in his being that someone was clearly willing to help, and was speaking to him softly the whole time? Just as his mentor, though, he got lost in these thoughts, while time kept going independently. Before he knew it…   
  
‘‘Hey, it’s done! Come look at this!’’   
  
Ardor shakes his head, walking up to the nicely lit hut, which admittedly looks quite nice and cozy, specially right in front of the setting sun.   
  
‘‘It looks… Decent, I guess. It should do the job for the night.’’   
  
‘‘I knew you were going to say that. I know I did a good job with it anyways.’’   
  
An unknown, seemingly elderly voice breaks into the conversation from relatively far away, though…   
  
‘‘Oh, you did quite well! It should serve well as a place to stay at to sell my wares, wouldn’t you agree?’’


	3. Chapter 1-2: Evil Presence Watching You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chrimbis. have this subchapter. as a chrimbis gift.

Unexpectedly, a visitor and new resident, had arrived. The Merchant makes his presence known, approaching the Guide with a calm smile on his face, while Ardor stood by, listening to the conversation.  
  
“There ya are again, Guide! Hadn’t seen you ever since the last champion went and got digested to the bone by King Slime, heh! Seems ya got a new one here too. Y’sure this one ain’t gonna end up the same way? After all, you seem to have a bit of bad luck with champions, judgin’ from their previous failures.”   
  
The Guide lets out a chuckle at this remark, shaking his head slowly, then looking back at the Merchant.   
  
“Yeah, admittedly, that happens a lot. But, I have a better feeling about this one. Just trust me on this, alright? Besides, profits are profits, right? He’s probably gonna get a thing or two from you anyways.”   
  
The old man nods, taking off his large backpack, which rattles quite a bit when moved from the amount of wares inside it. Ardor, who had been watching this whole time, with a look of irritation on his face from the Merchant’s assumptions, steps forward, looking directly at this seller.   
  
“So, you just instantly assume I’ll get my shit kicked in by default, huh? Well, guess what, I’m different from any other champion, I-”   
  
Before he continues, he sees the Guide behind the man he was talking to right now, shaking his head nervously. Yeah, right, can’t mention being a demon to everyone else. Looks like he had to make something else.   
  
“I… Actually have some training, I’m not going in blind, I know what I’m doing.”   
  
The Merchant, however, laughs at this, irritating Ardor further.   
  
“HEY! What’s so funny, old man?! Ya want a trident through your chest, or what?”   
  
Seemingly unaffected by this threat, he settles down, with a sigh.   
  
“Trust me, nothing can prepare you for the kinda things you’re gonna have to face, partner. I’ve seen Cthulhu’s eye rip apart champions who thought they could handle anything that was thrown at them. Don’t be so confident. Buuuuut, maybe if ya buy some of my wares, ya could stand a better chance. After all, no monster killer ever goes out there without potions, and I have more than enough of those, heheh!”   
  
The ex-demon, begrudgingly, nods with a groan. He reaches into his coin pouch, pulling out two gold coins.   
  
“One potion. Two hundred arrows. I’m going to need those.”   
  
The Merchant gives a thumbs up, reaching into his backpack, pulling out a potion, and stuffing two hundred arrows into one quiver. After that, the currency and goods are exchanged normally, with the old man walking inside the home after the trade is done. Not too long after, Ardor and his mentor do the same, making their way to a dedicated target practice room.   
  
“Hey, Guide, you know that guy? You two talked to each other like you’d known each other for a long while.”   
  
While the Guide picked up his personal wooden bow, and the platinum one that had been forged for Ardor after he went mining, he responded;   
  
“Yeah, actually. Pretty closely, too! We’ve both watched champions come and go, so we’ve had plenty of time to know each other.”   
  
“So, you’re saying he can be trusted?”   
  
The guide laughs for a bit, letting out a sigh.   
  
“Ardie, pal, you can’t just keep on expecting everyone to be after you. That’s gonna do you more harm than good in the end. Just relax a little, you’ll know a threat when you see it, backstabbers aren’t really a thing around these parts. Well, as long as you keep it that way, heh.”   
  
The ex-demon rolls his eyes, as the Guide hands him his bow. And thus, they begin practicing their shots, without much conversation going on, outside of corrections and tips on archery from the Guide. But after a few hours of shooting arrows, Ardor feels a chill run down his back.   
  
“... Guide. I have a bad feeling about something.”   
  
The Guide raises an eyebrow, as he shoots another arrow, and relaxes his grip of his bow, lowering his arm.   
  
“You sure you aren’t just being paranoid? Like, come on, we’re in the safety of this home. Nothing can get in here and hurt you.”   
  
Ardor sighs, looking down at the wooden floor.   
  
“Yeah, you’re… Probably right, huh?”   
  
“Let’s just continue practicing, alri-”   
  
Before the ginger-haired man(?) could finish talking, a crack appeared on the roof. Then a strong bump was felt against it. And again. And again. Until the roof broke, revealing a gigantic eye. Ardor, in a mix of fear and shock, yelled;   
  
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! GUIDE, YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!”   
The Guide started firing away arrows at the eye, not looking at Ardor.   
  
“What it is doesn’t matter! Just go outside and fight it there, I’ll keep it busy on your way out!”   
  
The champion nodded, taking his bow, quiver and trident, and making a sprint for the door, making his way out of the hut as fast as possible. After he’s a safe distance away, he fires an arrow at the eye from a distance, which hurts enough to get its attention, and make it stop attacking the Guide. It quickly sets its sights on Ardor, dashing towards him at a rapid speed, which he just narrowly dodges.   
  
“Come on, you freak! Give me all you got!”   
  
As the Eye Of Cthulhu hovers over Ardor, it summons its minions, which have to be taken out one by one rapidly with the rusty trident the ex-demon holds. This works as a distraction, though, making Ardor take a hit from behind by the large eye, injuring him a fair amount. This isn’t enough to stop him, though, and after the smaller eyes are taken care of, more arrows are fired directly onto the eye, until it seems to slit down the middle, with the cut growing more and more slowly. Ardor, of course, takes this as the eye being fatally injured.   
  
“Heh, I knew it wouldn’t be as tough as they said! Weak little piece of shit, I honestly feel a little bit bad for ya, getting so brutally beaten by a newcomer, and-”   
  
He’s quickly shut up by a massive roar, as the eye reveals a massive gaping mouth, with needle-like yellow teeth, and more smaller eyes bursting out from behind it.   
  
“... Oh shit.”   
  
Ardor has to make an attempt to both dodge the eye’s constant charging, and take out the smaller eyes that slowly came towards him, showing quite a bit of panic as he does so. Soon enough, all the smaller eyes are taken out, and not making the same mistake as last time, he dodges when they’re all gone, knowing he’d get attacked from behind.   
  
“Hah, nice try! The same thing won’t work on me twice!”   
  
What he wasn’t expecting, though, was an attack from the front, with one of the teeth severely injuring his right arm, deeply cutting into it. Cursing under his breath in agony, he takes out the potion he had bought from the merchant, which did little to heal the wound. It looks like a lost cause, as the eye charges rapidly towards him, but in a last ditch effort, he grabs his trident, throwing it at the eye with everything he has, and it connects! The impact doesn’t seem to do much, other than stunning the eye… Until the trident lets out a faint glow. Suddenly, heat seems to consume the gigantic eye, causing it to boil inside, with roars of pain coming from its maw. In just a matter of seconds, it explodes into bloody pieces, leaving a glowing white bag on the ground, covered in blood, amongst all the chunks of flesh. Ardor, trying to catch his breath, slowly stands up, retrieving his trident from one of the chunks of the eye. He makes his way to the bag, which emanates a glow in the colors of the rainbow. After collecting all his items, he makes his way back to the hut, panting, with the wound on his arm very clearly exposed.   
  
The Guide quickly makes his way over to Ardor, with a smile on his face.   
  
“You actually did it! I knew I made the right call with you, I-”   
  
He quickly gets a finger near his mouth from Ardor, as if to tell him to stop talking.   
  
“Shut up and get something to treat this. I’m bleeding the fuck out right about now, and it does NOT by any means feel good.”   
  
He looks over at the wound, looking just a bit ashamed that he hadn’t paid much mind to it.   
  
“Oh, right, sorry, heh! I’ll get some bandages, I should have some in a drawer.”   
  
The Guide makes his way to a nearby drawer, pulling out white bandages, and making his way back to his pupil afterwards. Ardor sits down on a chair, letting his mentor behind him take care of the wound. Eventually, it’s completely covered up by bandages, and the Guide gives the ex-demon a pat on the back.   
  
“You did great out there, Ardor. I’m proud of ya.’’   
  
Ardor waves a hand in the Guide’s direction, rolling his eyes.   
  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”   
  
As the bandages are put back in the drawer they were pulled out of, the Guide looks over at the small kitchen he had built into the hut, getting an idea.   
  
“Tell ya what; as a bit of a celebration over this victory of yours, I’ll cook something good up for us and the Merchant, what do you think?”   
  
Ardor ignores this, staring out the window, trident in hand, wondering… Just what happened out there? Did this trident hold more potential than he realized? What was done to the eye wasn’t intentional, he didn’t think the trident would react like that, let alone not break. And, while the Guide cooks, he continues thinking about this for a while. Maybe his mentor was right about his potential, but… He needs to learn how to properly unlock it. He thinks, maybe, just maybe, he should listen a bit more to the Guide. Just maybe.


End file.
